How to boost your productivity with the iPhone

Evernote is a tool you can use to take notes, create to-do lists, search through images, capture business cards and more. Wikipedia calls it “a suite of software and services designed for note taking and archiving”. All of the information that you capture is synchronised across all the devices and platforms you use, including Evernote for Mac and for Windows.

Information is automatically indexed, and made searchable, while at the same time synced to your online account. With Evernote, you also have the ability to add tags or to organise your notes into notebooks, according to which project you are working on.

Searching is also made easy with Evernote via the use of the keywords, titles, and tags you have created. Evernote makes printed and handwritten text inside your images searchable by using Optical Character Recognition, so that all you have to do is just snap and save. No more collecting business cards and entering the information by hand.

The service will also convert your voice notes to written ones. Like most dictation services, it has its pros and cons but works well enough. ReQall is also a useful tool for collaboration. It provides your coworkers with a sign-up option for the free service, enabling you to share your projects with them.

Reminders are critical to effective to-do lists, and ReQall can alert you to items pending in several ways, thanks to integrated functionality with most instant-messaging clients, text messaging, and e-mail as well as pop-up reminders on your iPhone screen.

Once again, this means that you can access your info on virtually any platform by logging into the web app from any browser. This makes it possible to add a reminder of something you need done from anywhere. Taskr also has the useful feature of colour-coding your tasks, which allows you to easily rate them in terms of urgency and difficulty.

It allows you to see which tasks you can achieve that are located nearby, using iPhone’s GPS. Furthermore you can add and complete tasks on the go and sync them all seamlessly using Remember The Milk online. What this provides is seamless integration with your desktop and other online apps, such as Google Calendar.

Since it’s been around for so long, the app is also available for Windows Mobile and Blackberry. Remember the Milk is a pleasure to use, but a professional account is a must and you’ll have to pay to get the full benefit.

Once you’ve stored all your information, use 1Password to auto-fill information on sites by using the app’s built-in browser. You can also back up your data on your PC or Mac, but you will need to shell out some cash for the pro version to allow you to cut and paste information from the app into Safari or other apps. And instead of dreaming up random passwords for new sign-ups, the app will generate and remember passwords for your various login points, allowing for much greater security. This could be a great app for business people who travel quite a bit.

With this app you’ll have everything that LinkedIn offers on the web right on your phone. The best feature is that you can connect to those you meet who also use it by syncing your details using bluetooth. No more collecting of business cards, just open the app on both phones and you’re connected to each other through LinkedIn.